PYOGENIC INFECTION, TUBERCULOSIS AND INFECTION-RELATED DISEASE IN SABER TOOTH CARNIVORANS

Osteomyelitis is the result of direct bacterial infection of bone. Spondyloarthropathy usually appears as a post-infectious phenomenon, commonly related to infectious agent diarrhea (food poisoning). Both have been found in saber tooth carnivorans.

Forty-eight examples of direct infectious fusion of Smilodon vertebrae were found among 1000 “vertebral specimens” in 1987. Apparently post-infectious spondyloarthropathy was present in at least 11 additional specimens.

Pyogenic osteomyelitis was found in 1 of 14 Homotherium serum calcanei. An additional calcaneus had undermining of an articular surface, a classic and apparently pathognomonic finding for tuberculosis). Spondyloarthropathy has yet to be recognized in this genus.

Evidence for apparently post-infectious spondyloarthropathy was present in Xenosmilus, in the form of costovertebral and peripheral joint erosions.

Most pyogenic infections appear related to trauma, in contrast to post-infectious phenomenon. Infectious agent diarrhea is a marker for fecal-oral contamination. Could the frequency of spondyloarthropathy in saber tooth carnivorans provide a window to ‘sanitation' and dietary habits? Perhaps Smilodon and Xenosmilus scavenged more frequently than scimitar toothed cats (e.g., Homotherium) or stored food for future ingestion, as do some contemporary cats.

Tuberculosis has been well documented in the Pleistocene. DNA studies have verified the specificity of the macroscopic findings. Clearly present in Ovis, Bison and Mastodon in North America, the observation in Homotherium serum represents its first documentation in a carnivoran.